Taken from the Document Catalogue, this is the second release in the Classic Blues series. This double CD features Big Bill Broonzy, an artist who was a strong link between country blues and the more sophisticated urban sounds of the pre-war Chicago blues scene. William Lee Conley "Big Bill" Broonzy was born in Scott, Mississippi on June 26, 1893. As a youngster his instrument of choice was a homemade fiddle. In later years he was famed for his accomplished guitar playing although he didn't start playing the guitar seriously until his mid-twenties. Following the First World War when he had been stationed in France, Big Bill went to Chicago and met Papa Charlie Jackson who, with his six string banjo, helped Bill hone his guitar technique. Chicago based Big Bill kept his musical options open by appealing to both the southern roots of the growing immigrant population and the 'hipper' attitudes of the city dwellers. He was able to adapt to the changes which took place in the music around him. Bill led the way musically, both as a matter of survival and as an innovator, he was a master of Country Blues, Ragtime Guitar, Hokum and post-war Folk Blues. Bill went on to tour in Europe in 1951 taking his music to new audiences and helping pave the way for the Blues revival in both Europe and the United States in the 1960s. Includes informative booklet notes by Gary Atkinson.